Phoenix
by ProjectPhoenix
Summary: Many stories talk about the concept of rebirth in the physical sense. But rebirth doesn't always involve reincarnation, there can be rebirth of emotion and of buried talent. Join Leo, as he experiences what it means to be a Phoenix, and possibly be 'reborn'. High School AU, no gods/powers. Just normal mortals, experiencing the journey that is life.


_**Dedicated to Miss. Swanson, business master and ice queen.**_

 **Hi! I've always wanted to write a story like this, so I decided to give it a shot. As always please review! Like with my other story, I'd appreciate it if instead of flames, I could get comments like "This sucks because…" instead of just "This sucks".**

As the obnoxious sound of my alarm rings through my ears, I can already feel a headache coming on. I force myself out of bed, and trudge to the bathroom. The mirror always seems to judge me, emphasizing my forehead dotted with red monstrosities, my hair that refuses to look nice, and my increasingly unattractive face. In short, I'm a little self-conscious.

I really hate waking up for school. I don't sleep well anyway, and having to stay up all night working on useless busywork for classes I don't care about doesn't exactly help.

The rest of the morning passes by quickly, and I'm soon being dropped off at school by our driver. My mother is always working at her finance business, and my dad isn't exactly present in my life. Sadness quickly fills my mind as I think of my dad, but I quickly push it away.

I'm a little early, and so I assume my normal morning routine: walk around the halls and pretend that I have somewhere to go. Groups of people line the halls, talking and smiling. Couples attempt to be sneaky in corners and hall monitors stride up and down pretending to be important. I don't really have anywhere to go, given that I'm severely lacking in the friend department.

First period, as usual, is Biology. As I walk into class, head down, pretending to have a life as I stare at my phone, I realize that a new seating chart has been put up. I internally groan, as this means I have to awkwardly sit next to a new person and make small talk while we pretend to actually care about each other's lives.

As I look for my ugly mug on the seating chart, I see myself next to Piper McLean. She seems nice enough, not like all the other classic popular girls. But, she's still the kind of person I dislike: rich, attractive, and bad in school.

I quickly sit down in my new seat in the back row, and glance over to my right. The girl I assume is Piper smiles at me and holds out her hand to introduce herself. In that moment, the rest of the world seemed to melt around me as I was struck by her beautiful eyes. As I gazed into them, it was like I was looking into a different dimension. They appeared to be changing colors, much like the kaleidoscope my dad had gotten me when I was younger. The thought of my dad was enough to jerk me out of my trance, and shake her hand.

The teacher came in, and began writing on the board. Piper squinted at the board, and looked confused.

I leaned over and whispered, "The torture begins." I was startled by the fact that I had just made what seemed to be a joke, but my thoughts were interrupted by Piper's soft laugh. I found myself being increasingly entranced by the girl next to me, and I struggled to push away my feelings. I knew that I had zero chance with her, and I tried to force myself to stop thinking about her.

But obviously, that didn't work. What really surprised me was the fact that she was watching the teacher intently, and taking notes. I had never seen a girl as popular as her even pay any attention during class, as they were usually not-so-secretly using their phones to take incessant selfies, text their friends in other classes, or watch Netflix.

I noticed that she was having trouble reading the board, and I slid my notebook over to her. She smiled at me gratefully, and warmth filled my body. My brain began to drift yet again as I thought about her smile. It seemed genuine, unlike the fake smiles of her predecessors as they copied down my homework that they failed to finish the night before, or the lab that I worked so hard on in class.

I blamed my obsession with Piper on my lack of sleep, and resolved to stop obsessing over her. She was just another normal girl, and would never like someone like me. Right?

The teacher ended the class early, and everyone began packing up.

"Thank you so much for helping me with the notes, I have trouble seeing the board sometimes and glasses just give me a headache," Piper said as she turned to face me.

My cheeks turned red as I blushed, "It was no problem really."

She started up a conversation, and I found myself actually interested in what she had to say.

"Ugh today my parents barely dropped me off at school on time, I had to sprint to get to class before the bell," she groaned.

I smiled and thought back to the time when my mom forgot when school started.

"One time my mom dropped me off an hour late and she thought I was early," I remarked, reminiscing about the time when my mom wasn't obsessed with her work.

She giggles, and that warm feeling hits me again, and this time, I let it stay.

"So, what do you do in your free time," she prompts. I awkwardly tell her about my hobbies.

"Well.. I actually really like gardening and cooking," I say quietly, "I know it's not exactly manly but I never really liked gender roles anyway." Right after I said that, I wished I could take it back. I had never really told anyone in this school about that, and I had just told someone who could spread it to everyone.

I sadly looked at her, expecting her to laugh at me. But instead, to my surprise, she seemed interested.

"Wow! I can't cook or garden to save my life but I am really passionate about feminism." "I'm trying to start a Feminism Club here at Goode but no one really seems interested," she says sadly.

"I would definitely be interested in that!" I said happily, but before I could continue, the bell rang.

Usually when I make small talk with someone, I just can't wait for the bell. But this time, when the bell rang, I actually felt disappointed.

As I stood up to get to my next class, Piper stopped me.

"I really want to hear more about your hobbies, walk with me to my locker?" she questioned. That was probably the first time anyone had ever asked me to do something like that.

"Sure," I said awkwardly. She smiled that electrifying smile again and we walked out together. While we walked down the hall, we talked more about equality, gardening, and cooking. Right before we reached her locker, a group of players on the football team walked by. They began catcalling her and Piper looked visibly uncomfortable.

Their apparent leader, Octavian, stopped in front of her. Octavian was the classic jock. Mean, sexist, but extremely attractive. His tan, regal face had an ugly smile on it. He threw his arm around Piper, and something inside me awoke, I just didn't know what.

"Sooo Piper, how does this weekend sound for our date?" Octavian said in his creepy voice. I didn't know that Piper had a boyfriend. I was surprised to learn that it was Octavian of all people; I thought Piper would never date someone like him. She deserved much better.

 _Like Me!_ I said to myself, not really realizing what I was thinking. My face turned red but thankfully no one noticed. I turned my attention back to the couple, but I was surprised to see Piper throwing Octavian's arm off of her.

"I've told you a hundred times, I will never date a pig like you," she growled.

"Woah pretty girl, calm down," Octavian said, "you know we'd be great together.

He tried to put his arm around her again, but she kneed him right where it hurts. I winced, and almost felt sorry for him for a second. The look on Octavian's face was priceless, and he began jumping around trying not to scream.

Piper and I quickly ran past them and finally arrived at her locker. I looked at her with newfound respect.

"He always bothers me, this is nothing new," she sighed.

"Boys are pretty dumb sometimes," I remarked.

She laughed, "But you're a boy".

"Yeah, and I'm pretty dumb basically all the time".

She grinned and looked down at her watch. "Oh no, it's almost time for class."

She grabbed a marker out of her locker and grabbed my hand. Confused, I asked her what she was doing.

"I'll be really bored during Gov, text me." Piper quickly wrote her number down, and left for class. I stood there, staring at the blue numbers on my arm, until the bell's sound reminded me that I had to go to class. I rushed into Language Arts and quietly went to my seat in the back. The teacher began the usual monotonous lecture and I pulled out my phone and entered Piper's number.

 **Hey! It's the dumb boy.**

 **At least you acknowledge it XD**

 **We should make a plan to fight off dumb boys**

 **Ooh that sounds fun, I'll punch them or something**

 **I'll throw spices at them**

 **My cousin is one of the only decent boys I know, his name is Sam and he's barely 2. He'll fight them with cuteness**

 **Let's call this, the Sam Plan ft. Piper**

 **Perfect**

 **My teacher is so boring. I'm already falling asleep and we're already sex minutes in.**

When I realized my mistake, I immediately felt like I was going to die of embarrassment.

 **WAIT NO SIX***

 **Sureeeeeee ;) I'm struggling to hold in my laughter. I think the teacher's looking at me funny.**

 **My phone has betrayed me**

 **I'm going to remember this for a long while**

We continued texting throughout that period about random things. The feeling was surreal, it felt amazing to have a friend that not only was interested in my hobbies, but also enjoyed talking to me.

After Language Arts, came PE, which Piper was also in. When I arrived after changing, I saw her sitting in the bleachers with some of her friends. Saddened, I turned to take my lonely seat at the top. She probably wouldn't want to be seen with me around them. But to my surprise, she called out to me and waved me over. I walked down and sat beside them.

"Guys, this is Leo, Leo, these are my friends." They went around their circle and introduced themselves. I met Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Hazel, Reyna, Frank, and Thalia. They all seemed rather nice, and I was looking forward to spending time with them. We made small talk until Annabeth, who I took to be the inquisitive one, began asking me many questions.

"Why haven't we seen you before? You seem like our type of person."

"It's hard for me to make friends usually," I replied. I normally wouldn't tell anyone something that personal, but these people made me feel strangely comfortable.

Percy jumped in, "Well you just made 8 more!" I smiled at him and Annabeth continued. She asked me general questions about my life, where I had gone to school and things like that. When she got to my family, I braced myself for the inevitable.

"So what do your mom and dad do?"

I hesitated. "My mom works in finance, and my dad.."

I could see them looking at me, waiting for my answer. I didn't know whether to tell them about my dad or not. After all, I had just met them. After a few moments of silence, I finally decided to just let it out.

But before I could say anything, Coach Hedge's obnoxious voice blared through his megaphone.

"It's time to runnnnn cupcakes. Get off your butts and let's go outside." We all groaned and followed him, thoughts of my dad forgotten.

PE was rather boring after that, with drills and Hedge's annoying comments. But, I felt happier than I can ever remember feeling. I made 8 new friends, 8 more than I have really ever had.

Piper was like an angel. She seemed genuinely interested in me, and she introduced me to new people that also seemed to like me. She was also really pretty, with that amazing laugh..

"Stop Leo, you have no chance," I grunted to myself.

Except, I must've said it out loud because Piper, running next to me, noticed.

"Stop what?"

"Oh uh nothing."

She looked like she didn't believe me but didn't pursue the topic.

The problem was, is that I knew they would leave me soon. Everyone always leaves me. They were probably just being kind out of sympathy, and as soon as the day ended, or maybe even this class, they would disappear from my life.

I wouldn't really be hurt by the people I had just met leaving, but what would really hurt is Piper leaving. Though we had only really known each other for less than a day, I felt like we had a connection. Or maybe that's just wistful thinking.

After we had finished the torture that is running laps, we headed for the locker rooms. As I opened my locker, I saw Jason approaching me.

"Hey, I know we just met, but I'm having this movie night at my house tomorrow, wanna come?"

As a reflex, I responded, "I don't know.. I have a lot of homework." I knew full well I wasn't going to have that much work to do over the weekend, but I tend to avoid going outside my house. Social situations have always scared me. Well.. not always.

"Aw come on, you'll have three days to do it, and you need a break from all that studying." After a little more prodding my Jason, I finally gave in. He grinned, and walked away to change.

Hopefully I wouldn't make a fool of myself in front of my new friends. Maybe they weren't going to leave me just yet. I hadn't really done anything like this for a while; the last time was years ago. Years ago..

My vision darkened as I began to have a flashback.

" _I spun, creating a small wave that splashed all over Noah. Laughter filled the air as our splash war raged on. I was focusing on dodging his attacks, but suddenly, water hit me from behind._

" _Oh nooo, an attack on two fronts!" I pretended to be scared. Amer cackled like the witch we saw at the movies, but he couldn't keep it up for long. We all started laughing uncontrollably, our 'war' forgotten._

 _Noah's dad walked onto the pool deck, and called for me. He looked like he had just seen a ghost._

" _Leo, could you come here please?"_

" _Aw dad, but we need to finish our battle," Noah protested._

" _Leo, I really have to talk to you." The tone in his voice made me stop laughing. My mind started racing, was it my dad? But he promised me that he wouldn't be leaving for a while, so it couldn't be that. Could it?_

 _I quickly climbed out of the pool and followed Noah's dad inside. He started talking, but got choked up._

 _Leo, your father, he.._

The bell rang loudly, piercing through my thoughts. I realized that I was going to be late to lunch if I didn't move quickly. I changed as fast as I could, and ran to catch my new friends.

As we walked into the lunchroom, I realized I didn't have anywhere to sit. I usually sat alone, or skipped lunch in favor of the library.

I nervously asked Percy, who was walking next to me, if I could sit by them.

"No of course not," he said in a deadpan voice. I looked down sadly, and felt the loneliness return.

He laughed, "Of course you can Leo, I was just kidding." The loneliness retreated, and I grinned.

After we had all gotten our food and sat down, they began talking about the upcoming talent show.

I didn't have much to contribute to the conversation, so I just sat and listened.

At one point, Percy seemed to notice I hadn't said anything and turned to me.

"So Leo, what's your talent?" he questioned.

Everyone stared at me, expectantly, as I began to think of my answer. I opened my mouth to answer, but quickly closed it. What talents did I have that could be used in a show? Well.., there is that one thing. But I haven't done that ever since..

My vision darkened, as I began to have another flashback.

 **Well, that's the first chapter! What will Leo's talent be? And why has he not used it for a while? Find out, in the next, horribly written chapter of Phoenix.**


End file.
